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Asian Stir-Fry

I know what you’re thinking – Asian stir-fry is pretty vague. I know it is, but it’s because I like to give options. I’m a freelance cook. If there’s ingredients I don’t have, I’ll improvise. Or if there’s some I want to add, I’ll add them. That comes from years of cooking with different foods and flavors. Some of you may not have that experience and want to follow a recipe to the “T” and that is totally cool. I’m going to give you options and from there you can add or remove anything you’d like. Use the vegetables I used, add some you like, remove the ones you don’t like. You can do all veggies. You can do chicken, beef, scallops, shrimp, or a combination. I did this with brown rice. You can do white rice, noodles, quinoa or another grain or no grains. I made this with what I had in my house at the time. More than likely, the next time I’ll make it different. Either way, it tastes fabulous if I do say so myself. It’s totally customizable. So enjoy and have fun with it. Ok, so here’s my recipe for Asian stir-fry.

3 Tbs. oyster sauce (omit if you don’t like it – but it doesn’t taste fishy – honest – just lots of flavor)

If you don’t have hoisin sauce or oyster sauce, you can simply use soy sauce or tamari – it just won’t be as flavorful.

Directions:

Heat a large skillet (I used a 16″ stainless steel skillet) on medium high heat for about a minute or so. Add 1 Tbs. of oil and swirl it around the pan until the bottom of the pan is covered. Add all your veggies (hold off on the garlic for the time being). Sauté the veggies for a couple of minutes (Here’s where it’s up to you on tenderness of the veggies. We like ours more on the crunchy side rather than mushy side so this is when I would add the garlic and let it cook for another minute or so). At any point in time you feel that it’s too dry and the veggies may stick to the pan, add a little bit of broth. Not too much, you can always add more as needed. Once you’ve added the garlic and let that cook for another minute or so, push all the veggies to the side of the pan. Add the remaining 2 Tbs. of oil to the pan that’s clear. Add your chicken (or meat of your choice if you chose to add animal protein) let that cook for a couple minutes, then stir it around. Depending on what protein source you’re using, you will have to cook more or less, you will need to judge that. For the small chicken chunks, they were done in about 6 minutes. Reduce the heat to low, mix everything together. At this point, if you want more of a sauce, this is where you add the broth/corn starch mixture.

Directions for optional “brothy/gravvy”:

Mix 1 Tsp. corn starch with 1/4 cup of liquid (broth of your choice) once all the corn starch is dissolved, now it’s time to add the hoisin sauce and oyster sauce. Once that’s all combined, pour on top of your stir fry and mix thoroughly. The corn starch thickens the sauce. If it’s too thick, add a little broth (or water).

That’s it. You can eat it like this or you can eat it with rice or noodles. It’s a long recipe so it looks difficult, but it really isn’t. It’s just that I added a lot of options. If you get stuck, feel free to comment and I’ll get back to you asap. Or leave me a comment if you tried it – let me know what you think.